Kewaunee - Concerns about the economic impact of losing the Kewaunee Power Station continue to weigh heavily on this county of 21,000 people.

But the biggest concern locals raised with nuclear safety regulators Wednesday night was the length of time envisioned for the return of the power plant site to "green field" status.

Under federal nuclear regulations, Dominion Resources Inc. has 60 years to decommission the site. The actual work of demolishing buildings and decommissioning itself is expected to take seven to 10 years, said Bruce Watson of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's waste management division. But under the company's plan, that would not begin until the 2060s.

"I have kids and grandkids in the area, and I think we're leaving them a big mess," said David Hardtke, town chairman of Carlton, the lakefront community where the power station is located. "Sixty years is way too long to take these plants down. That's prime lake frontage where that plant is.

"For that plant to stay off the tax rolls is penalizing Kewaunee County, the Town of Carlton and the Kewaunee school system," he said.

Ken O'Brien, assistant director of NRC's regional office near Chicago, said the regulations are designed to allow companies that hold nuclear plant licenses the flexibility to decide when during the 60-year time period they want to move forward with the demolition and decommissioning process.

Some power companies have moved much faster to decommission their reactors, with nine plants going through decommissioning between 2005 and 2009, Watson said.

That includes the Big Rock Point power plant in Charlevoix, Mich., which was decommissioned in 2007. Dairyland Power Cooperative of La Crosse has moved forward with decommissioning in recent years as well, shipping the reactor head out of the former La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor and building on-site storage for spent nuclear fuel, O'Brien said.

The NRC hosted the meeting to take public comment on Dominion's decommissioning plan, which is to take effect after the Kewaunee plant shuts down permanently on May 7.

Speakers at the meeting expressed frustration at both Dominion's plan and the federal government, which has not moved forward on a long-term disposal plan for the spent nuclear fuel from the nation's nuclear plants.

Instead, power plants like Kewaunee and Point Beach are storing the fuel on site adjacent to nuclear plants. In the case of Dominion, some of that fuel would remain on site until the 2070s.

Mark Kanz, a spokesman for Dominion's Kewaunee plant, said the reasons for the long time frame are economic in nature.

"One is that we want to continue to grow the decommissioning fund. There's not enough money in there today to do the entire process," he said.

By phasing the project out over decades, the money in the fund will grow through investments and enable Dominion to have enough to finance the project.

In addition, Kanz said, allowing radioactive components in the power plant to decay over time can save money.

"So while those components are decaying, it's also getting less expensive to dispose of them, whether it's recycling or landfilling or whatever," he said. The less radioactive a component is, the less likely it has to be disposed of in a Class A hazardous-waste facility, he said.

Nelson, a former Kewaunee employee, said it was tougher for a power plant like Kewaunee to absorb added costs associated with changes being mandated at nuclear plants after Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant disaster last year, or NRC rules that shore up the fire safety standards of nuclear plants.

Kanz, of Dominion, said compliance with NRC regulations like these were not a significant factor in Dominion's decision to shutter the plant, which employs 633 people.

But he agreed with Nelson that it would be easier for a regulated utility - like the plant's former owners - to pass on added operating costs to utility customers - than it is for Dominion, which is operating Kewaunee as a merchant power plant selling electricity on the open market.

The main reasons for the plant closing, Kanz said, was the inability of Dominion to create economies of scale by owning multiple nuclear reactors in Wisconsin and the Midwest, as well as the plummeting price of electricity on the wholesale regional power market.